Three Black men are suing American Airlines for alleged racial discrimination, arguing that they were removed from their January flight from Phoenix to New York over a complaint "about an unidentified passenger's body odor."
The plaintiffs say that they, along with five other Black men, were asked to step off the plane for an hour and a half. The men claim the action was discriminatory because they didn't smell bad and the only passengers removed were Black.
It's remarkable that in the year 2024, Black men in America have to face treatment that's reminiscent of the civil rights era. To make things worse, the other men removed from the plane, who were apparently from different countries, had to deal with this during their visit to the US.
Racism still exists, but its prevalence has been blown out of proportion. At the beginning of this century, the vast majority of all Americans believed race relations were good, but now that videos of statistically rare incidents go viral quickly, the public thinks racism is everywhere all the time. That's not the case.